Public and Private Law Enforcement in Italy of EU Consumer Legislation after Dieselgate

In the light of the well-known Dieselgate case, the paper makes some critical remarks on the deterrence of private and public law remedies in respect of multi-offensive illegal conduct by companies. In the first part, in particular, the inadequacy of the individual instruments that can be inferred from contract law and tort law is stressed. In the second part, on the other hand, the limits of collective consumer protection, such as class action, as governed by Italian law, are underlined, again with a view to deterrence, also in consideration of the compensatory nature of tort liability, which does not allow the granting of punitive damages. The analysis takes particular account of the consumer protection policies that the European Union intends to pursue, above all, in relation to the so-called mass-harm cases (as highlighted by the recent "A New Deal for Consumers").